The King of Fighters XIV Vs Street Fighter V

As all my previous blog posts on Street Fighter V will show, the latest entry in the fighting franchise had a rocky start. Lack of characters, modes unavailable and the lack of punishment of online quitters made the game feel like it was pushed out the door prematurely. And reading Capcom’s responses since the launch, it seems like that is exactly what happened.

On the other side we have The King of Fighters XIV, a game that really does put SFV to shame with its flurry of characters and modes, all of which are available day one. Imagine that! A story mode, various challenges, a working lag free (mostly) online mode and so many characters I have still yet to try them all out. It’s almost like SNK made this game purposefully to stick two fingers up at Capcom.

One thing that was never in doubt with SFV though was the gameplay. At its core it’s a mechanically solid and well balanced fighting game. But the launch stink is something that never truly washed off, particularly as myself and many others judging by the sales figures and internet talk, abandoned it for large portions between updates. I haven’t touched it since the last blog post on the then newly released Story Mode and I can’t say I have much of a desire to go back. Especially now KOF is taking up all my time.

So many characters….

Viewing the character select screen can seem overloading as you’re presented with sixteen teams, each comprising of three characters. As someone who struggles to learn one character, having to tackle three at a time (if you’re not aware the KOF series is a 3v3 fighting series) can be a bit of a struggle. It’s because of this that newcomers may be put off the series, which is a shame because gameplay wise it’s a lot more accessible than it looks. There’s a high chance of you getting destroyed online, but then that could be said for any game that has an online component. Is it more accessible than Street Fighter V? Probably not. Button bashers and people that just want to watch flashy moves will probably be able to have more fun with the gameplay for SFV with moves being easier to perform and specials especially.

With KOF XIV the graphical jump from 2D to 3D is something hasn’t been met with universal praise to say the least. With games like Guilty Gear Xrd showing that 2D games can still look absolutely stunning, it perhaps wasn’t necessary for the KOF to make the jump to 3D, especially with such a basic art style that’s on display here. It does have a very bland 3D look to it. So that’s at least a couple of things that Street Fighter V has over KOF XIV.

So to end, here’s a handy bullet point list. Let’s see who won shall we?

Street Fighter V

Graphically the 3D is more impressive

Easier to get into

King of Fighters XIV

An actual story mode from day one

Online was working from the start

A ton more characters

Doesn’t feel unfinished

Gameplay is a little harder to decide. Both play brilliantly, but in the end content is king. If you were to ask me which fighting game out of the two I’d recommend you go and purchase, my choice would probably be King of Fighters. Because in the end, the model of releasing a full price bare bones release to then patch over the next few months is something I believe should never be supported.